Where Did the Summer Go?
Some of our Favorite Summer Pastimes
Labor Day weekend in the US often marks the end of the summer season, depending on your location, context, and culture. The change of each season marks a transition, and yet, this one — often, not always — evokes feelings of nostalgia, melancholy, and an awareness of time’s passing. We ask one another with a measure of surprise, “Where did the summer go?” To answer that question, we at LeaderWise want to share some of our favorite pastimes from Summer 2025. Here are our adventures, books, outdoors, entertainment, and moments that composed our summer days. Where did your summer go?
Some of our Summer Favorites from the LeaderWise Staff
Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel. Recommended by Stephanie Hoover: “I love seeing her narrate complex family relationships in graphic/comic form.”
The Ballad of Wallis Island (film 2025). Recommended by Kelly Jordan: “Such a lovely and evocative movie about grief, wistful longing, and the ways we change over time, combined with great humor, beautiful music, and gorgeous scenery.”
Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French (book series). Recommended by Heather Koshiol: “I tried to take a break between novels but couldn't resist going from one to the next to the next …. It's not the suspense that captures my attention so much as French's writing style and her focus on characters. The New Yorker aptly describes that in the series ‘the search for the killer becomes entangled in a search for self.’”
The Great Outdoors (not a book or a movie, the real thing). Cindy Halvorson’s favorite for this summer was getting outside! A lot. “I watched and listened to nature!!!”
Heavy Weights (film 1995). Recommended by Ali Kenny: “Ben Stiller's most poignantly erratic performance, endless quotables (‘Come 'ere, you devil log!’) mid-90s fashion, and an underdog win!”
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (book). Recommended by Sarah Lammert: “It was a page turner! Imagine how you would react if a passenger on your flight predicted not only your date and cause of death, but that of everyone on board! What would then happen if the predictions seemed to be coming true?”
In Honor of Joanna Macy by Rebecca Solnit (eulogy). Recommended by emilie boggis: “For me, this was a summer of reconnecting with family and friends (some long-lost) and marking transitions as loved ones died. A colleague passed along this remembrance of Joanna Macy, someone from whom I had the good fortune to study. I loved the way Solnit helped me look to nature for both our living and our dying.”
Jeanne de Florette and Manon of the Springs (directed by Claude Berri, 1986). Recommended by Caroline Burke: “I re-watched these films after many many years, and it was better than I remembered. These captivating films, which take place in the luscious landscapes of French Provence, are about love and self-preservation and rationalizing guilt and experiencing grief. The movies are atmospheric and well told, with a superb cast. These were award winning films in France, and I can see why. Plan to watch two nights in a row because you will be so eager to see the second 1/2 as soon as possible.” Note: Gerard Depardieu, one of the actors, was recently convicted of sexual assault.
Krista Tippet's On Being (podcast). Recommended by Joanna Quanbeck: In this fraught time, with so much that is sobering in our world, I have appreciated revisiting [her podcast]. "Wisdom to replenish and orient in a tender, tumultuous time to be alive. Spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, and poetry. Conversations to live by." I particularly appreciated her six-week series this summer on hope: a "reflection/course experience curated by Krista and drawing upon her conversations with several visionary humans: adrienne maree brown, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ocean Vuong, Joy Harjo, Joanna Macy, and Ross Gay. Together, they extend rich and actionable invitations for a muscular, reality-based hope. They offer ways of seeing and living to lay our hands and our hearts, our imaginations and life force on the generative possibilities of life in this time."
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. Recommended by Becca Fletcher: “This book takes an imaginative look at the life and ministry of Jesus as told through the eyes of his best friend from childhood. It is irreverent and funny while still honoring the divinity of Jesus, and it opens up new ways of thinking about how he grew and developed into the person we know from Scripture. An entertaining and thought-provoking read.
Pee-wee as Himself (2-part documentary). Recommended by Stephanie Hoover: “For me, it was a compelling look at art-making, queer life, and the risks we run up against when we adopt a persona.”
The Postcard by Anne Berest. Recommended by Caroline Burke: “a lovely story about a mother and daughter who learn together about their family history looking back at WWII. Wonderfully written, poignant, timeless in many ways. A page turner.”
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry (based on the book by Gabrielle Zevin). Recommended by Caroline Burke: “This is about a bookstore owner on Cape Cod — and about a child who comes into a grumpy person's life — and about second chances that can occur when one is open — and about finding love, no matter what age one is.”
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. Recommended by Caroline Burke: “a story about two women in India who navigate their friendship in the midst of the caste system, children, work, and socioeconomic disparities. It is both heartwrenching and freeing. I couldn't put it down.”
The Penguin Lessons (film 2024). Recommended by Caroline Burke: “Not to be missed! This surprisingly delightful film stars Steve Coogan as a teacher in the mid 70s who goes to a divided Argentina for work in a school — and befriends a penguin. Naturally, this penguin changes everything. It is a serious film, with great humor mixed in.”
